Why Matt Hughes will win
By Curtis Clontz on May 13, 2009
Matt Hughes… He has lost three of his last four. He beat Chris Lytle, but not in old school fashion. He is no longer bigger, stronger, and faster than everyone else. He may even be an underdog in this fight, but I am about to tell you why he will be the victor over Matt Serra on the 28th.
Matt Hughes is a long way from regaining the title in the 170 pound division. He would have to win several key fights to get back on top of the pedestal, including one over GSP or Thiago Alves (Both have dominated Hughes in recent meetings). Although I am a Hughes fan, I am not wearing blinders. He is only a shadow of the champ he once was. One reason for his decline is obviously age, but that hasn’t slowed Randy. Could the H.I.T. Squad really be the reason he is declining so fast, could it be a camp of yes men, similar to B.J. Penn, or something else?
It may not be a huge leap of faith, but Hughes will win this fight. The biggest problems he has, is that he is often the best guy in his gym day in and day out. That is not a bad thing typically, but he needs to be pushed! One thing I have always said is that he needs to outsource. Have training elsewhere. Guess who listened up! Guess where he was this past week! The former champ was at Greg Nelson’s Minnesota Martial Arts Academy and not the H.I.T. Squad. He spent from last Monday to Sat training with guys like Sean Sherk. The week prior he was in Salt Lake City training with grandpa of the sport Jeremy Horn.
While this is not a hardcore 3 week training camp, it is something outside of the H.I.T Squad. He branched out and was hopefully pushed for the majarity of two weeks. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is huge. It says that Hughes is taking this fight seriously and he will be ready for what could be his last fight in the UFC.
Filed Under: MMA
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Seems to me you are over-simplifying why he will win, and there are many problems I have with your article. First off, age HAS slowed Couture down, but he was always a grinding fighter who wrestled and dirty-boxed his opponents into submission anyway. Secondly, Hughes almost always trains with Horn, they are great friends, and guess what? It hasn’t helped him recently. And while training MMMA is great, it might be too little, too late. I expect Hughes to win, but He won’t compete with the GSP’s, Alves, or Fitches of the welterweight division any longer.
Sorry, I have to nitpick here. Hughes was far from the best striker in the Militech gym – McFedries hits hard. Is he a better striker than his business partner Lawler, I don’t know. Unless reporters have solid information concerning the training sessions of Hughes, Liddell or any other fighter every thing stated is really based on assumption and what fighters decides to reveal to the public.
Hughes will take Serra down, pin him down and proceed to ground and pound. I really doubt he will deviate from his usual game plan. Will Serra be strong enough to counter Hughes strategy? Will his back be a factor? Who knows? I see Hughes winning this fight notwithstanding a magical Serra upset repeat.
i don’t think a serra win will be a magical upset. i see hughes losing. chuck trained with the boxer at ATT and look where that got him. hughes is done. i’m a big fan of his, but sadly it’s pretty much over. as for serra, sure, he lost to gsp badly, but at this stage in their careers, hughes has less gas in the tank than serra. hughes standup game in recent fights was horrible. serra hits hard…
I am right now in the opposite side here. Matt Serra will probably loose, even though I hope he doesn’t. Serra will rely on his BJJ game way too much and if Hughes can smother BJ Penn, Ithink he can do it with Serra. I think Hughes will be a little more motivated for this fight, as it may be his last. Watch Hughes go back and ground and pound on Serra. And while Hughes may not be switching training camps, neither is Serra, and quite frankly I like Hughes camp better.
I am rooting for ol’ school Hughes, Ground and Pound, pick him up and drop him like he was Frank Trigg kind of win!